Hand-audiphone.



F. A. BARBER. HAND AUDIPHONE.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 7, I913- Patented May 22, 1917.

UNITED STATES PATN '1 FRED A. BARBER, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO GLOBE EAR-PHONE 00.,

0E BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPOIVATION OF MASSACHUSETTS.

HAND-AUDIPHONE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 22, 1917.

Application filed October 7, 1913. SerialNo. 793,952.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRED A. BARBER, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Boston, county of Suffolk, State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Hand-Audiphones, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like letters on the drawings representing like parts.

This invention relates to a portable audiphone or telephone, particularly adapted to be carried and used by deaf persons to aid in hearing. Such portable audiphones, as heretofore constructed, have usually included a considerable number of parts,a battery, wires connecting the same to a receiver and transmitter, and furthermore were more or less annoying and troublesome to carry about the person, whether in use or not. It has been necessary to have such a portable telephone composed of separate portions in order properly to separate the receiver and the transmitter, as if these two portions of the telephone apparatus were in closep-roxi'mity to each other, the result was objectionable, as the vibrations of the respective diaphragms tended to disturb each other so that the satisfactory use of such a telephone was impaired. I have bined and carried in a single hand instrument, greatly increasing its use and value. I accomplish this result by providing a novel construction wherein an insulator is provided :-by which I mean any suitable, sound insulating, vibration-insulating or other device permitting satisfactory operation of'the audiphone. My improved device therefore, contemplates the employment of means to sustain both the receiver and the transmitter of the hand telephones in close juxtaposition, and insure a perfect operation; and also that either instrument is absolutely free from jars, vibrations or other disturbances which would be present if the two instruments were united while in any such proximity, by any sound or mpulse-conveying vconnection, supporting means or otherwise. In the preferred form of the invention as herein illustrated, I employ'a relatively rigid support for the receiver and utilize a support for thetransmitter, comprising a sound or vibration msulating material, such as rubber, leatherpulp, felt or the like as the supporting means for the transmitter, and unite both transmitter and receiver through this insulating material. Furthermore, this arrangement, whereby the receiver and trans- Referring to the drawings, illustrating a preferred embodiment of the invention,

Figure l is a side view, partly in cross section, of my improved hand audiphone;

Fig. 2 is a detail view of the insulating and supporting arrangement permitting the receiver and transmitter to be held adjacent each other without interference and Fig. 3 is a side view, with a portion of the handle broken away, showing a modified form permitting adjustment of the receiver and transmitter relatively to the handle.

The receiver 1 and its transmitter 2 may be of any suitable form or kind, and T support each to a handle 3, which handle is preferably formed hollow to contain a removable battery 4. The handle 3 is formed with threaded portions at either end to carry a correspondingly threaded cap 5and cover 6. To the cap 5 is aflixed suitable insulating material 7 and a switch member 8, which will turn the current on and off from the battery 4 so that when the device is not in use the power ofthe battery may be conserved. Fitted to the cap 5 and within insulating material 7 is a hollow supporting member 9, having a threaded portion 10 adapted to fit through the cap 5, (see Fig. 1) and a peripheral shoulder 11 formed as a guide and retaining means for the switch 8. Within the hollow member 9 is a contact piece 12, also protected from the outer walls of the member 9 by suitable insulation 13. A wire 14 from the contact piece 12 leads to the transmitter 2 through a flexible conduit 15 and back therethrough and to the receiver 1, through a similar flexible conduit 16,. and back through said conduit 15 to an electrical contact at 17 (see Fig. l) with the side of the member 9. The battery 4 is preferably maintained in spring contact with the contact piece 12 by means of a coiled spring 18 fitted within the cap 6 and consequently a firm and sure contact is insured at either end of said battery. The switch 8, when in operative position affords a contact at 19 with a lug on the cap 5, and hence with the sides of the handle 3, through the spring 18 with the other end of the battery"4, the member 12 being in engagement with the pole 20 of the battery so that a complete circuit through both transmitter and receiver is afforded, when the switch 8 is swung into engagement with the lug 19, completing the circuit from the wire 17 through the sides of the handle 3 and spring 18 to the battery just described.

To sustain the receiver and transmitter in adjacent juxtaposition, and enable each to operate fully, perfectly and Without each interfering with the other or producing extraneous sounds, I so arrange them that each will be free to vibrate entirely independently of the sustainin means for the other. The member 9 is pre erably formed with a vertical support 21, having suitable apertures 22 and 23 therein to permit the flexible conduits 15 and 16 to pass therethrough, and

having on its upper portion one or-more studs 24 adapted to project into the solid part of the receiver 1 and be securely held thereto by nuts 25 threaded on the ends thereof. This construction enables the receiver 1, which is' the member ordinarily held to the ear of the user and therefore requires to be sustained with considerable degree of strength, to be firmly supported to the handle 3. Between the back of the re ceiver 1 and the adjacent side of the sup-;

port 21 I affix a yielding medium in the form of a disk or strip 26, through which the studs 24 pass. On the opposite side of the support 21, I provide a similar strip or disk of yielding material 27 The strip 26 is held by the studs 24 and between the re-.

This construction permits both the re 1 claim as new and desire to secure cellular substance, such as ordinary rubber,

while sufficient strength is afforded to hold both instruments in proper position, but little strength being required to sustain the mere weight of the transmitter 2, while considerable strength is afforded in sustaining the receiver 1. It is of course, feasible to reverse this arrangement and hold the transmitter to the rigid support, although I prefer the construction shown and described as it is the receiver which will ordinarily withstand the most pressure in use. While I prefer rubber as the sound or vibration insulating material and prefer to use two separate stripsv or disks, it is of course within the purview of the invention to utilize any yielding substance, and to form such insulating substance, such as cork, felt, leather, textile fabric, etc, asa single disk, sustaining the same by "any suitable support. The importance of the invention is that I am enabled to combine both transmitter and receiver, together with a convenient handle, all as a compact instrument, and support the sound transmitting mechanism on the same handle, preferably at the same end of the handle, and in close proximityto each other.

It is often desirable for the user to have the transmitter inclined somewhat with relation to the handle 3 supporting the same, and accordingly I have illustrated in Fig. 3 a slightly modified form, wherein the means for sustaining the receiver and transmitter is hinged or jointed, comprising two portions 29 and 30, suitably hinged at 31. The

hinge or pivot 31 may be set. Withsufiicient' friction so as to hold the member 30 and the parts carriedthereby in any adjusted position relatively to the handle 3 which the user may findmost convenient.

Having described my invention, what I by Letters Patent 1s: a

1. A portable'telephone comprising a hollow handle adapted to receive and hold a removable battery, a rigid member extending from one end of the handle, a receiver carried by said member at a point on said member spaced from the handle, a transmitter yieldingly connected to said. member at a point spaced from the handle, said y elding connection permitting the relative independent operation of both receiver and transmitter, while carried by the same rigid member and adjacent each other.

2. A portable telephone, having a handle and a battery contained therein, a receiving instrument and a transmitting instrument positioned adjacent to each other at the same end of the handle, .piv'oted'means tosupport said instruments on the handle, and insulating means between the instruments and said support permitting both tobe swung on said pivot and each to operate without obscuring the sound transmitting action of the other. Y

3. A portable telephone, having a handle and a battery contained therein, a receiving receiver affecting the sound transmitting operation of the other, while held insaid adjacent position.

4. A portable telephone comprising a hollow-cylindrical handle adapted to contain a removable battery, a cover for one end ot said handle having a spring bearing between said cover-and the battery contained therein, a cover for the other end of said handle having contact meansto engage the terminals-of the battery and contact therewith under the tension of said spring, a rigid member extending from the center of said last named cover; a telephone receiver attached to said member at a distance from the cover, a telephone transmitter having a yielding portion and studs projecting from said member at a distance from the handle engaging said yielding portion of the transmitter, whereby said receiver is rigidly supported by the member and the transmitter is yieldingly supported thereby.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

FRED A. BARBER.

Witnesses:

.JAMES R. HoDoER,

R. G. Hansen. 

